Sunday, July 11, 2010

Cartels Battle for Control of Chihuahua State Capital

In the ongoing struggle to determine who will control Chihuahua City, the state capital of Chihuahua, rival cartels engaged in a shootout in the southern part of the city.

At midday on Tuesday, July 6, 2010, 6 late-model vehicles full of armed men arrived at a rival safe house in Colonia Sierra Azul. A gunfight ensued that raged for almost ten minutes.

During the battle the attackers fired grenades at the house, destroying a motorcycle and setting it on fire.

One man was killed defending the safe house. He was armed with 2 grenades and an AK-47 assault rifle. He was also wearing a Type IV ballistic vest capable of withstanding armor-piercing bullets. He had been shot in the head.

The attackers then sped off in 5 of their vehicles, abandoning one at the scene.

Not far away, at an outdoor food stand, the gunmen attacked a second group of people. A man and a woman were shot to death and two other men were kidnapped. It is not clear if these people were at the scene of the original attack and had escaped, or were somehow otherwise related to the attack.

Because of the major law enforcement mobilization as a result of these two incidents, three attackers were caught and arrested trying to flee from police. They had an AK-47 assault rifle and a grenade launcher in their possession.

Upon searching the safe house, police discovered an arsenal and six stolen vehicles on the premises.

The next day, Wednesday, July 7, the decapitated bodies of the two kidnapped men were found on the south side of town. Their feet were bound with duct tape, their hands tied behind their backs, their torsos covered in black plastic bags and thrown one on top of the other.

Their disembodied heads were located not far away on the road leading to the Aquiles Serdán prison just outside of town. The heads were in two Styrofoam coolers and accompanied by 'narco' messages.

The victims were identified as brothers Javier and Alejandro Salazar Meza. It was also reported that the woman killed at the outdoor eating establishment the day before was the wife of Javier.

After 3 decades of work spanning the globe, 'El Viento' now lives in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Mexico is a gorgeous country with a rich heritage, diverse culture, amazing food, & friendly people. But, it is drowning in the escalating violence of the cartel wars. 'El Viento' is dedicated to bringing the story of what the Mexican people live with every day to the English-speaking world.

¡Sí! Haber dicho bien, los E.E.U.U. no tiene un verdad y el cuadro claro de qué está sucediendo en México, me educo por todas partes puedo…Yes, well said, US is not educated to the reality that exist in Mexico, please encourage your friends and associates to see the blog, it is graphic yes, but that is keeping with the truth...

The US suppresses or ignores what is happening in MX at its peril. The drug cartels are now reaching an advanced stage of pseudo-guerrilla warfare operation with extreme terror tactics. Very dangerous since such a high level of planned violence is very susceptible to spreading like a virus. Cartel operations have already spread to northern Central America, including the extreme violence tactics.

One would think the US would be more interested because this is a war of extreme violence right on its doorstep, not on the other side of the world. I think the US will finally wake up to a very nasty reality soon.

"One would think the US would be more interested because this is a war of extreme violence right on its doorstep, not on the other side of the world. I think the US will finally wake up to a very nasty reality soon"- i agree with you, it makes me think that the lack of interest is due to the US government benefitting from this situation, there must be some people way up in the life chain who live in the US and whose life would be deeply affected (negatively of course) if these drug wars were to cease...

thanks for this page, the people need to be less sheltered and see what really goes on..